Stampin' Up! Inventory Clearance Sale

Stampin' Up! have decided to have a clearance sale on selected items from the present catalogue. There may have been a stamp set that you have been eyeing off, be sure to check if it is on the list. There is money to be saved (some as much as a $38.97 save) from now until 24th January 2010. There is no limit of how many you would like to purchase either so perhaps stock up on birthday gifts or even get ready for next Christmas. Unfortunately the orders would not be back in time for this Christmas. Click on the Inventory Clearance logo on the right hand side to view the specials.
I will be back soon to pop some more ideas to my blog.
Thanks for popping by :)

CHOO CHOO

It is my youngest grandchild's birthday today and he is one year old. Up until lastnight I hadn't made a card for him. I decided even though Choo Choo is no longer available I would choose this stamp set. I am sure we are all hoping that next year when the new catalogue comes out that it will feature in it. I have also used the tree from Forest Friends. The background is sponged with Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss and a touch of Old Olive. I used my markers to colour the train images. The card is very similar to one I posted earlier but I just love this set dont you!

November Swap - Baby/Wedding

Hello all! Well we have certainly had all types of weather this month have'nt we! We are now back to warmer weather after the gusty, rainy days last week. Great for the lawns. The Cicadas are getting noisier which means summer is on its way. Hope you are all organised for Christmas. I am getting there slowly. It always creeps up on you.

Well we have just had our November Swap and we could do either a baby or wedding card. I chose to do a baby card. This card is a good one if you want to use up some scrap card.

You will need:-

Stamp Sets - Sprinkles (heart), Curvy Verses

Ink - Brocade Blue

Cardstock - Brocade Blue, Whisper White, Bashful Blue

Accessories - Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Whisper White Tafetta Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Gel Pen, 2-Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Stamp-a-ma-jig. On my swap cards I decided not to use the Baby stamp from Lovely Labels but brought down the little verse a little lower and left the bottom blank. It looked a lot simpler and smart.

Hope you like my card. Thanks for popping by.

Time is running out for Spring Mini

Here we are in November already and Christmas is just around the corner. Doesn't time fly! Well you all know what that means dont you! Our new Summer Mini is also just around the corner and that means our Spring Mini is due to finish at the end of this month. If you still have some items on your Wish List from the Spring Mini then its time to get your order in so that you don't miss out. I have found the Oval All set very popular and very versatile. I just love this set. If you are looking for that something special for the young at heart then Choo Choo and Forest Friends may be what you are looking for. These can be used for baby cards, birthdays, picture frames etc. Sense of Time is one of my very favourites in the Spring Mini. I just love the many ways this set can be used. You may want to stock up on your Ski Slope Designer Series Paper. I have made a lot of use of this set with my Christmas cards.
I have recieved my sneak peak of the new Summer Mini catalogue and I cant wait to show it to you. I have already got a few items on my Wish List.

It has been just over a week that we had SU! Regionals in Perth. It was a great day but as usual it went too quickly. I have popped a few of the projects they had in store for us and also some of the swaps I received on the day. When we arrived we were all given the Hello Again stamp set and Retro Remix Stampin Around Wheel to be used with our projects. These are in the new Summer Mini Catalogue. This gives you a sneak peak of what is to come.

I will have a new card posted soon but October has been so busy for me and the family. Apart from that I have had the flu for the past week which has slowed me down also. I will be back up and running real soon. Until then stay safe and thanks for popping by.

Stamparoo Stamp Camp 2009

Well here I am back from Stamp Camp at Swanleigh feeling very tired. It was a fantastic couple of days. I came home feeling very tired from all the stamping and due to the fact that some people had more sleep than others. LOL (no offence you know who). I went straight to bed when I arrived home. During our stay we were well looked after by staff and students of Swanleigh. We stayed in the dormitries, stamped in the library and ate with the students and staff. The meals were great but sooo much food. Dinner, breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and then dinner again. I thoroughly enjoyed mingling with all the beautiful Stampin' Up! ladies while we got through our lovely projects. I came home with lots of goodies and new ideas including little tips to help make stamping easier. Please enjoy some of the photos from our stay at Swanleigh. Unfortunately we didnt think to take the group photo until the end of the day when some of the girls had left. My thanks go out to Ngaire and all the girls who helped to make this all available to us. I know I speak on behalf of all the girls to say that we appreciated all of their hard effort. I had better rest up this week as our Stampin' Up! Regionals is to be held on the 24th October in Perth. I am looking forward to that. We still have our visitors and on arriving from stamp camp I found we had two more staying the night. During this week we will have three families stay so I will try to find time in between to do some swaps for Regionals. If I dont have time then thats okay as I still have all of the goodies I brought home from Stamp Camp to try out again. Enjoy the lovely weather we are having everyone and thanks for popping by.

Stamp Camp Swap-Masculine

Hello once again! It was really difficult keeping out of my craft room while doing my housework last weekend. I shampood the carpets, cleaned all the blinds and bathrooms. I had my hair done and put all the furniture back where it belongs before eventually settling down in my craft room. I walked in a couple of times but talked myself out of it that I had to do the housework first. How difficult it was but I did it. It did not take me long to design my card for the 2009 Stamp Camp with the Stamparoos. We are all heading off to the Swan Valley for a night of fun and laughter full of stamping.
Here is the card I have decided to swap.
I have used:-
Stamp Sets: Circle Circus, Oval All
Ink: Basic Black & Gray, Versamark
Cardstock: Basic Black & Gray, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Dauber, Scallop Circle Punch, Crop-o-dile, 3/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Basic Gray Marker, Crystal Effects and an old office hole punch.
I have also used a bit of left over laminate to line up my sponge lines on the Very Vanilla C.S. moving it back until the whole card is covered in lines that look like venetian blinds.
I had thought of doing something completely different but its funny how you go off on a tangent and come out with something different. I am looking forward to making all of the other swaps at camp. I had better make sure I get plenty of sleep beforehand so that I can stay up all night at camp. I hope you like my card and thanks again for popping by.

My Busy October

Hello everyone! I am sorry I have not been on to post any new cards as I have been busy doing my swaps for our Stamp Camp this coming weekend. I am so excited as this is my first stamp camp. I missed out on the last one due to our daughter having a baby on the very same weekend last year. This year while the camp is on we have visitors but I am not missing out this time. Peter's father arrived today from the eastern states. My dad and his wife are arriving either on Sunday or Monday. I have two other families visiting on the 21st of October. In between that I have the stamp camp on the 16th October and the very special Regionals on the 24th. Another date I wont be missing out on. My swaps are ready but I will wait to post it after our stamp camp. I bet you are all glad to see a bit of sunshine. I had to admit as much as I love winter I am loving the gorgeous days we have been having.
Anyway just wanted to touch base. Will have something for you really soon.
Take care all and thanks for popping in. :)

World Cardmaking Day - October Special

Time has flown and so has September. The September Ribbon Bundle special was very popular and now we have a brand new special during the month of October. As it is World Cardmaking Day, Stampin' Up! have decided to have a new special. If you buy a Simply Sent Cardmaking kit you will receive 20% off the co-ordinating stamp set. There is no limit to this special. The two Cardmaking kits are Flower Power Card Elements and Rock Star Card Elements found on pages 140 & 141. The 20% discount applies to Wow Flowers stamp set and Starring You stamp set.

I guess if you were thinking of buying these sets now is a good time. I just love the colours of these cardmaking kits. Dont you? Remember the special runs from 1 - 31 October 2009.

September special

Hello all! September is very quickly disappearing and that means the Ribbon Bundle special is almost finished. Remember if you spend over $100 on your order or quickly have a $600 workshop you will receive two lovely ribbons. Please see over in right hand side of blog for details.
I have just posted my Mini Spring Swap below not realising that it wouldnt come out on top so scroll down if you would like to check it out. I drafted it on the 6th Sept but didnt want to publish it until our swaps were over and done with. We had a lovely time at Ngaire's last night and made some gorgeous cards. We were spoilt with Ngaire's dessert too. Mmm! Looking forward to using at my next workshop. As you can see there is no workshop in October as it is a very busy month for me. I have three lots of family arriving, a stamp camp and the Perth Regionals. I was not sure of dates for some of these so decided that October was out. If I find some spare time I will be sure to let my ladies know.
For those of you who love the rain, then enjoy what is left of it and thanks for popping in. Bye for now!

Eyelet Border

It seems I am in the creative mood today as I have had the day to myself. I have had a couple of visitors though so have had the occasional break. I went shopping this morning and on the way home I had an idea. I quickly put my shopping away and went into my craft room to work at my idea. Mmm! The first thing was what colour do I use. I almost used Bella Rose but have worked with that before so I chose Sweet Always. I was going to put my design into a circle but SU do not have a bigger circle so I decided to make my own design and then adapt to it.

Here I have used

Stamp Set: Upsy Daisy, Oval All (from Mini Spring Catalogue)

Stamp Pad: Chocolate Chip

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie

DSP: Sweet Always

Accessories: Small & Large Oval Punch,

Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Sponge Daubers

As you can see I have shadowed the Upsy Daisy stamp.

I have sponged around the all white edges with Chocolate Chip.

I have a couple of days off work so hopefully I can get into my craft room again for some more stamping. Hope you like my card. Thanks for popping in.

Spring Catalogue Swap

Our monthly swap this month was using anything from the Spring Mini Catalogue. This is the card I came up with. Christmas is coming by so quickly and it is never too early to start making our Christmas cards.

I have used for this card:

Stamp Set: Great Friend, Best Yet (hostess gift level 1)

Stamp Pads: Black Staz On, Old Olive,

Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White

Accessories: Sponge dauber, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Real Red Marker & Grosgrain ribbon, Crystal Effects, 2-Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Dimensionals.

For the wreath I traced the shape onto Whisper White cardstock so that I had an idea of where I was going to stamp with the stem from Great Friend. I worked my way around stamping twice before re-inking to give light and dark. I then coloured the little berries with my Real Red marker and then went over them with Crystal Effects. Using my 2-Way Glue I added glitter to the leaves. To take away the stark white I sponged Old Olive around the edge of the card.

I hope this gives you another idea for Christmas. Very easy card without really having to have Christmas stamps except for the sentiment. A little bit of advice for you. If you are thinking of using Christmas colours this year for your cards it might pay you to order your cardstock early as last year SU ran out of them.

Bye for now and thanks for popping by.

Shadowed Upsy Daisy

I made this card as one of my swaps for Convention in Canberra this year in May. It features one of my very favourite stamp sets, Upsy Daisy. I have also used the Scallop Edge Punch to create a feature for my card. The shadowing was done by stamping once onto the cardstock, lifting and very slightly shifting to the right and placing the stamp back onto the cardstock to give a shadow effect.

I have used
Cardstock: Whisper White & Bashful Blue
Stamp Set: Upsy Daisy
Stamp Pad: Bashful Blue
Accessories: Bashful Blue Grosgrain ribbon, White gel pen
Scallop Edge Punch
I hope all those fathers out there had a lovely day today. The sun shone quite a bit which was nice. We certainly had a nice day with lunch at Woodvale Tavern with our son and his family and then I cooked dinner for our daughter and grandaughter this evening. Her poor hubby had to fly out this morning early.
Well I am off now to get ready for my next workshop which will be a Punch class. Different ways of using your punches. Thanks for popping by.

Choo Choo

Here I am at last. I have been so busy with family that I haven't been able to get on. Also we have been away over the last few weekends. My other passion is photography so I have been out taking photos of birds & wildflowers. I made this card last month for my grandson. I saw the idea in the Spring Mini Catalogue.

I used the Choo Choo Stamp Set. It took some time to cut out the little pieces but I think it looked great in the end. My grandson was happy with it. You can use whatever colour you wish.

Fathers Day is approaching

Well Father's Day is creeping up on us and that is what my next workshop is all about. I have my bits and pieces all ready for next weekend. I quickly made this card up but decided not to use it so thought I would share it with you. I didnt think I would get much done this weekend as we were minding two of our grandchildren (both boys). They were very active but kept themselves very busy. I was surprised they were so good. Good old Rage put on a marathon of Michael Jackson which I taped. It went for hours and kept them occupied with them singing and trying out all the dance moves.

Anyway back to cardmaking.

For this card I used:

Stamp Set - Greetings Eight

Cardstock - Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

DSP - Urban Garden

Accessories - Mat Pack & Piercer, Crystal Effects, a hole punch from my office.

As you can see the card is pretty self explanatory but instead of using brads I punched out Night of Navy with my hole puncher from my office and applied Crystal Effects for the glossy effect.

Urban Garden I think is my favourite DSP and I love the Kiwi Kiss.

I best go and clean up my craft room ready for more cardmaking. Take care and enjoy the coming week and thanks for popping in.

Sense Of Time

Hello everyone! I was hoping to post something sooner than this but I lost sense of time.

I trust you have all enjoyed your week so far, especially with the continuous beautiful weather we have had here in Perth. Enough rain last night and this morning to water our gardens and we have been given another beautiful day today. I was lucky enough to leave work early today so I was able to enjoy the sunshine. Those of you who know me know that I love winter and that it is my favourite season. I do enjoy the spring like days in between showers though. Don't we all?

My choice this week is a stamp set from the Spring Mini Catalogue. I am really enjoying this little mini as it has some beautiful stamp sets, papers and accessories. There is something for everyone. I would have to say it is my favourite mini so far.

I am going to do this card at my next workshop as one of my simple ones. I tend to do two simple and one a little bit more difficult to keep everyone happy. I do hope they will like this one.

You will need:-

Stamp Set - Sense of Time

Cardstock - Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel

Stamp Pads - Versamark, Chocolate Chip

Accessories - Stamp-a-ma-jig, Clear Embossing Pwd, Heat Gun, Paper Piercer, Sponge, Stampin Dimensionals, Bone Folder

Bella Rose

I can't believe its almost the weekend again. Where does the time go? I plan on spending a lot of time this in my craft room this weekend getting ready for our group swaps. Not sure what I am doing yet but I guess it will come to me. For now I have made this sweet little card for a friend's daughter and thought I would share it with you. I have used one of the stamps from the Spring Mini Catalogue.

For this card I chose to use -

Stamp Sets - Best Yet (Idea Book & Catalogue Hostess free products level 1), Great Friend (Spring Mini Catalogue)

Cardstock - Riding Hood Red, Whisper White

DSP - Bella Rose

Stamp Pads - Riding Hood Red

Accessories - Eyelet Border Punch, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals. I have since put some Dazzling Diamond Glitter on the leaves of the butterfly.

Time to get my beauty sleep as I have work tomorrow. Thanks for popping in.

Brayer Workshop

Hi there once again! I hope you have all enjoyed the beautiful weather we have had over the weekend here in Perth. What a beautiful day it was on Saturday and we spent it inside with our Brayer workshop. This workshop proved to be a bit of a challenge for the ladies. One thing to remember is not to take too much notice of how it looks until the end. We started off with Glossy White cardstock so that everyone had a chance to test out the brayer and then moved onto Very Vanilla cardstock. It was nice to see the different results achieved at the end of the workshop.

OCEAN COMMOTION

For this card I used:-

Stamp Set - Ocean Commotion

Cardstock - Brocade Blue, Old Olive, Glossy White

Stamp Pads - Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery, Staz On Black
Accessories - Circle Punches, Mellow Moss Taffeta ribbon, Post it notes

First of all I punched out circles using post it notes and placed them randomly onto Glossy White cardstock. I then brayered over the top using Bashful Blue. I took the circles off and then stamped the fish using Brocade Blue onto lower part of card. I also stamped the fish onto a piece of scrap paper and cut out and used as a mask so that I was able to re-stamp just above the original fish with Taken with Teal. I stamped some seaweed with Certainly Celery and the wording from Garden Whimsy in black Staz On.

SUNSET WITH UPSY DAISY
Our second card was the challenging one. For this one you will need -

Stamp Set - Upsy Daisy, Linen (discontinued)

Cardstock - More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Basic Black

Stamp Pad - Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Ruby Red, Basic Black

Accessories - Basic Black Grosgrain, Sponge Dauber

The sunset was done by using the punched out post it note with 1 1/4" punch to make the moon shape. We brayered over the whole piece of Very Vanilla with Pumpkin Pie. On the top and bottom of card we brayered Tangerine Tango and Ruby Red, finishing off with Basic Black by sponging with a Sponge Dauber. I lightly sponged over the moon with More Mustard. Using two pieces of Basic Black ribbon to make the bow in the top right corner. Attach stamped image onto Basic Black card. I used the Linen Stamp with Versamark on the front of the card before attaching the stamped image, then stamping my wording on the bottom.

With lots of fun and laughter our workshop was finished and the results were great.

I promise the next workshop to be a lot easier ladies.

Take care, happy stamping and thanks for popping in.

ORANGES & LEMONS

Two of our grandchildren stayed over during the school holidays. Our neighbour had pruned his lemon tree and had put the branches out for bulk rubbish on the side of the road. The kids spotted the lemons still on the branches and went out to pick them. They brought back a shopping bag full of lemons. They had already brought some oranges to juice but they decided to add the lemons. While one cut the fruit, the other hand squeezed the juice. The taste was leaning towards lemon until they added a few more oranges and sugar. They made quite a lot of juice and had a lot of fun making and drinking it. (and they cleaned up their mess!)

I took some photos while they were making the juice and printed them out straight away and made this scrap page before the end of the night.
I have used:-
Stamp Sets - Short & Tangy, Short Order Alphabet

Cardstock - Certainly Celery, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow, Whisper White

Stamp Pad - Certainly Celery, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow
I made a pocket under the top photo and used the Tart & Tangy orange for the tab to pull out the little story.

QUILTED POCKET SILHOUETTE CARD

Hi there! Its time I put one of my creations onto my blog for the first time. Here goes!

This one I made for our group swap and it took a bit of time but I think in the end was worth it. Hope you think so too.

You will need:-

Stamp Set - Pocket Silhouettes

DSP- Urban Garden

Card Stock - Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Basic Grey

Stamp Pads- Not Quite Navy, Versamark

Accessories - White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Crystal Effects, Word Window Punch

I have used the cardboard backing to the DSP paper to mount my DSP onto then cut out into squares 2 x 2cm. On the squares of Not Quite Navy and Basic Grey I have embossed (white) the Pocket Silhouette Stamps. On the inner four squares I have stamped and used Crystal Effects. For the sentiment I have used the Word Window Punch and popped the end back in holding it with a post it note and re-punched to make it smaller.
Hope you like my first entry. Thanks for popping in.

Welcome to my first post

I've finally plucked up the courage to build my own blog.

I hope to be able to put regular posts of my creations, life stories and of course keep you updated with Stampin! Up! specials. Please keep popping in and I'll try to keep you entertained.